The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1887-08-28
AN ASTORIAN IN LONDON.
Interesting Notes OF SojOurn In England.
LONDON. August 10, 1887.

LONDON, August 10, 1887.
FRIEND HALLoRAN:
As rule, in corresponding, / do not
believe in wasting time, in excuses and
apologies. But / do wish on this occas-
ion to say, that / hope you will forgive
my seeming neglect in not fulfilling my
promise to send you an occasional letter
during nov absence from Astoria-the
more so as YOU have kindly kept your
promise in sending me every week a copy
of your interesting paper, the receipt and
perusal of which, / assure you, has been
one of my greatest enioyments sluce L
stepped foot on foreign shore. desire
simply to say that the main reason why
have not heretofore written you is, be-
cause, up to the present, my time and at
tention has been fully occupied in visit
ing relations scattered over various and
widely separated portions of this tight
little island" and talking over with them
matters and things which could have no
public interest. To give you descrlp-
ton of some of these quaint old English
towns and villages would have been of
little interest except to the antiquarian
or some former resident of the place IN
question. Therefore / did not attempt It.
/ believe have now got through with
what may be called the routine of duty,
and my intention is to accept the invita-
ton of some kindly disposed and well
posted friends, who have offered to chap
erone me to Paris, and to escort me in
visiting sundry places of historic inter
est in the wonderful city of London,
with its more than four million inhabi-
tants within its school board district, to
Windsor castle, Hampton court palace
and other noted places outside OF Lon
don. These will afford me subjects for
future letters.
Since nv arrival in Liverpool on the
9th of May, in visiting relatives and
friends, / have had occasion to travel
over nearly the whole of the southern
half of England, my stopping places in
cluding the celebrated manufacturing
town of Birmingham. the pottery towns
of Staffordshire, the ancient cities Of
Bristol; Exeter, with its celebrated
cathedral; Oxford, and its well known
universities; Bedford, with its
JOHN BUsYAN "REMINISCENCES.
Also, the beautiful coast of Devonshire,
containing many celebrated seaside re-
sorts. at none of which / saw any bath
ing beach to compare with our own
Clatsop and North beach. AS / sat
upon the cliff overhanging the contracted
little cove which formed the bathing sea
beach of Ilfracombe-one of the most
beautiful and fashionable seaside resorts
of England-and watched the coming
and going of the thronging and contin-
ually moving crowd of excursionists from
London and other cities of the interior,
ladies and gentlemen dressed in all man
ner of fantastic seaside costumes, my i'm
agination carried me forward to the time
when the population of Astoria shall be
equal to that of London at the present
time, having a birth on the average every
four minutes and death every six min
utes-and thought what a countless
crowd there will be there then, and what
a glorious time they will have on the
magnificent forty mile stretch of level
sea beach adjoining the mouth of the Co
lumbia river don't expect to live to
see that day, MIR. Editor, and / am not
sure that you will; but, if the population
of those already crowded empires and re-
publics of the old world continents so in
crease, as they have done and are doing,
it is only question of time when they
must emigrate in much larger numbers
than they have hitherto done, although
that is immense; and know of no bet
than our own Oregon.
The crowding, seething mass of hu-
manity, continually on the move in op-
posite directions, in these London streets
is simply bewildering TO one unaccus-
toned to it.
Yesterday, seated on the roof of an
omnibus, at p. NJ, found myself
IN THR HEART OF TIE CITY,
Where several streets converge into a
large open space, having for its bounda-
ries the Bank of England on the north,
the Royal Exchange on the east, the
lord mayors official residence, the Man.
sion House, on the south, and the cele-
brated street called Cheapside running
west. A blockade for minute occurred.
attempted in vain to count the num-
Der of vehicles of every description,
from the carriage of the aristocrat, with
its liveried attendants, to the donkey
cart of the humble costermonger, which
were compelled to come to q standstill in
that limited space. 1t baffled my efforts
for it was literally packed solid. But
squads of efficient policemen are sta
TONED at every such intersection, and
what appears to an inexperienced OBJ
server to be inextricable confusion, is
soon Strengthened out by the absolute
and unquestioned authority these DO
licemen exercise and the knowledge they
have acquired by hourly similar experi-
ences.
AS have before intimated, nv re-
quired visits in the country have been
paid, and am settled down in London
and its vicinity for awhile. From my
room in the house of my lately deceased
brother, where / am writing this ram
bling letter, the gilded top of the Victo-
ria tower of the houses of parliament,
lonly few steps distant), is plainly Wis
lble. have an open invitation from an
influential friend to be present at a de-
bate in the house of lords or commons
when see fit. wish to select an even
ing when some interesting subject will
be under debate, calling out some of the
best speakers. hope to make this visit,
when made, the subject of my next let
ter. 1t has been my privilege to worship
IN the ancient cathedral in the city Of
Exeter, and last Sunday, in the more an
cisnt and, historically, more interesting
edlhce,. Westminster Abbey. But as this
letter is already encroaching on your
space, / will not now enter into any de-